ALOS is a Japanese Earth-Observation satellite, developed by JAXA. The objective of the mission ... is to provide the user community with data of sufficient resolution to be able to generate 1:25,000 scale maps. ALOS mission objectives as set by JAXA are to:

The mission includes optical and an active L-band microwave sensor payload whose high-resolution data may be used for environmental and hazard monitoring. ESA will provide the European/African node for data distribution.